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Marion Zimmer Bradley was a bestselling science fiction author, a feminist icon, and was awarded the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement. She was best known for the Arthurian fiction novel THE MISTS OF AVALON and for her very popular Darkover series. She was also a monster. THE LAST CLOSET: The Dark Side of Avalon is […]

Play 1 | Allies – Me/Axis – Dad | Outcome – Overwhelming Allied Victory (Axis forfeit) This play-through we used the advanced game with the following variations and special rules: No roll required for Paratroopers to drop. No roll required for 150 Commando armor to make 1st turn movement. 2 x Day 1 SS Panzer […]

Just in time for Christmas, it is now possible to order print editions directly from Castalia House through our partnership with Aerbook. At least, it is if you happen to live in the USA. So, those of you who have indicated that you’d like an alternative to ordering from Amazon can now do so, and will even, […]

The Evil Within 2 video game is NOT a ripoff of the “Resident Evil” series. People may say so, but they’re idiots who know nothing about games or game design, and their opinions should be summarily discarded. (As should their right to have any opinions at all.)

Fiction (Tolkien and Fantasy): “Fantasiae was, according to its initial subtitle, the “monthly newsletter of the Fantasy Association,” based out of Los Angeles. The first issue was dated April 1973, and the final issue was no. 103 (volume 9 no. 10) from October 1981. The editor for the entire run was Ian M. Slater, who also […]

In the post-Civil War West, the railroads are expanding, the big money men are moving in, and the politicians they are buying make it difficult for a man to stand alone on his own. So, Walt Ames moves his wife, his home and his business from Denver to Pueblo. The railroads are bringing new opportunities […]

The mid-1970s was a golden age for new artists coming on the scene: Tom Barber, Carl Lundgren, Doug Beekman, Richard Hescox, Steve Fabian etc. One of those whose career weathered the changes in book cover art is Stephen Hickman (b. 1949). His website has this to say: “Hickman’s work has earned him critical acclaim, including […]

The Promethean is an amazingly funny novel exposing the utter insanity of modern academia and the world of technology. An extraordinary tale of ambition, social justice, and human folly, it combines the mordant wit of W. Somerset Maugham with a sense of humor reminiscent of P.G. Wodehouse. When American billionaire Henry Hockenheimer discovers that conquering the […]

Humor is an often neglected aspect of science fiction and fantasy. Not only does it significantly improve less serious works, but it can make deep, thoughtful stories more memorable and engaging. However, if it were so simple, then every book in those genres would be a barrel of laughs, right? Not only is there the […]

This week’s roundup of the newest titles in science fiction features a murder mystery on a generations ship, captured space princesses, a reformed thug battling aliens in the back alleys of a dying world, and the return to publication of the eighth volume of the classic anthology There Will Be War. * * […]

As you may recall, our objectives with regards to the comics industry go well beyond Alt★Hero. That may be our aircraft carrier, but our goal is not to sail around the metaphorical seas and do naval exercises while looking pretty, it is to actually sink ships, blow things up, and send in the Marines to take […]

Short Reviews will return next week with The Smoking Land by Max Brand in the February issue of A. Merritt’s Fantasy Magazine. Cirsova Heroic Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine is taking subscription orders from now through the end of January for our Spring (#7) and Summer (#8) issues. Spring Adrian Cole’s New Dream Lords saga […]